Classroom Q&A

With larry ferlazzo.

In this EdWeek blog, an experiment in knowledge-gathering, Ferlazzo will address readers’ questions on classroom management, ELL instruction, lesson planning, and other issues facing teachers. Send your questions to [email protected]. Read more from this blog.

How to Help Students With Their Writing. 4 Educators Share Their Secrets

teaching writing best practices

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Teaching students to write is no easy feat, and it’s a topic that has often been discussed on this blog.

It’s also a challenge that can’t have too much discussion!

Today, four educators share their most effective writing lessons.

‘Three Practices That Create Confident Writers’

Penny Kittle teaches first-year writers at Plymouth State University in New Hampshire. She was a teacher and literacy coach in public schools for 34 years and is the author of nine books, including Micro Mentor Texts (Scholastic). She is the founder and president of the Book Love Foundation, which annually grants classroom libraries to teachers throughout North America:

I write almost every day. Like anything I want to do well, I practice. Today, I wrote about the wild dancing, joyful energy, and precious time I spent with my daughter at a Taylor Swift concert. Then I circled back to notes on Larry’s question about teaching writers. I wrote badly, trying to find a through line. I followed detours and crossed out bad ideas. I stopped to think. I tried again. I lost faith in my words. I will get there , I told myself. I trust my process.

I haven’t always written this easily or this much. I wouldn’t say I’m a “natural” writer because I don’t believe they exist. Writing is work. When I entered college, I received a C-minus on my first paper. I was stunned. I had never worked at writing: I was a “first drafter,” an “only drafter.” And truthfully, I didn’t know how or what to practice. I was assigned writing in high school and I completed it. I rarely received feedback. I didn’t get better. I didn’t learn to think like a writer; I thought like a student.

I’ve now spent 40 years studying writing and teaching writers in kindergarten, elementary school, middle school, and high school, as well as teachers earning graduate degrees. Despite their age, writers in school share one remarkably similar trait: a lack of confidence. Confidence is a brilliant and fiery light; it draws your eyes, your heart, and your mind. But in fact, it is as rare as the Northern Lights. I feel its absence every fall in my composition courses.

We can change that.

Confidence blooms in classrooms focused on the growth of writers.

This happens in classrooms where the teacher relies less on lessons and more on a handful of practices. Unfortunately, though, in most classrooms, a heap of time is spent directing students to practice “writing-like” activities: restrictive templates for assignments, with detailed criteria focused on rules. Those activities handcuff writers. If you tell me what to do and how to do it, I will focus on either completing the task or avoiding it. That kind of writing work doesn’t require much thinking; it is merely labor.

Practice creating, on the other hand, is harder, but it is how we develop the important ability to let our ideas come and then shaping them into cohesive arguments, stories, poems, and observations. We have misunderstood the power of writing to create thinking. Likewise, we have misunderstood the limitations of narrow tasks. So, here are my best instructional practices that lead to confidence and growth in writers.

1. Writing Notebooks and Daily Revision. Writers need time to write. Think of it as a habit we begin to engage in with little effort, like serving a tennis ball from the baseline or dribbling a basketball or sewing buttonholes. Writers need daily time to whirl words, to spin ideas, to follow images that blink inside them as they move their pen across the page. In my classroom, writing time most often follows engagement with a poem.

Likewise, writers need guidance in rereading their first drafts of messy thinking. I’ve seen teachers open their notebooks and invite students to watch them shape sentences. They demonstrate how small revisions increase clarity and rhythm. Their students watch them find a focus and maintain it. Teachers show the effort and the joy of writing well.

Here’s an example: We listen to a beautiful poem such as “Montauk” by Sarah Kay, her tribute to growing up. Students write freely from lines or images that spring to them as they listen. I write in my notebook as students write in theirs for 4-5 minutes. Then I read my entry aloud, circling subjects and detours ( I don’t know why I wrote so much about my dog, but maybe I have more to say about this … ). I model how to find a focus. I invite students to do the same.

2. Writers Study Writing . Writers imitate structures, approaches, and ways of reaching readers. They read like writers to find possibilities: Look what the writer did here and here . A template essay can be an effective tool to write for a test, but thankfully, that is a very small and insignificant part of the whole of writing for any of us. Real writing grows from studying the work of other writers. We study sentences, passages, essays, and articles to understand how they work, as we create our own.

3. Writers Have Conversations as They Work . When writers practice the skills and embrace the challenges of writing in community, it expands possibilities. Every line read from a notebook carries the mark of a particular writer: the passion, the voice, the experiences, and the vulnerability of each individual. That kind of sharing drives process talk ( How did you think to write about that? Who do you imagine you are speaking to? ), which showcases the endless variation in writers and leads to “writerly thinking.” It shifts conversations from “right and wrong” to “how and why.”

Long ago, at a local elementary school, in a workshop for teachers, I watched Don Graves list on the chalkboard subjects he was considering writing about. He read over his list and chose one. From there, he wrote several sentences, talking aloud about the decisions he was making as a writer. Then he turned to accept and answer questions.

“Why do this?” someone asked.

“Because you are the most important writer in the room,” Don said. “You are showing students why anyone would write when they don’t have to.” He paused, then added, “If not you, who?”

confidenceblooms

Developing ‘Student Voice’

A former independent school English teacher and administrator, Stephanie Farley is a writer and educational consultant working with teachers and schools on issues of curriculum, assessment, instruction, SEL, and building relationships. Her book, Joyful Learning: Tools to Infuse Your 6-12 Classroom with Meaning, Relevance, and Fun is available from Routledge Eye on Education:

Teaching writing is my favorite part of being a teacher. It’s incredibly fun to talk about books with kids, but for me, it’s even more fun to witness students’ skills and confidence grow as they figure out how to use written language to communicate what they mean.

A lesson I used to like doing was in “voice.” My 8th graders had a hard time understanding what I meant when I asked them to consider “voice” in their writing. The best illustration I came up with was playing Taylor Swift’s song “Blank Space” for students. Some students groaned while others clapped. (Doesn’t this always happen when we play music for students? There’s no song that makes everyone happy!) But when they settled down, I encouraged them to listen to the style: the arrangement, her voice as she sang, the dominant instruments.

Then, I played a cover of “Blank Space” by Ryan Adams. Eyes rolled as the song unfurled through the speakers, but again I reminded students to listen to the arrangement, voice, and instruments. After about 60 seconds of the Adams version, heads nodded in understanding. When the music ended and I asked students to explain voice to me, they said it’s “making something your own … like your own style.” Yes!

The next step was applying this new understanding to their own writing. Students selected a favorite sentence from the books they were reading, then tried to write it in their own voice. We did this a few times, until everyone had competently translated Kwame Alexander into “Rosa-style” or Kelly Link into “Michael-style.” Finally, when it was time for students to write their own longer works—stories, personal essays, or narratives—they intentionally used the words and sentence patterns they had identified as their own voice.

I’m happy to report this method worked! In fact, it was highly effective. Students’ papers were more idiosyncratic, nuanced, and creative. The only change to this lesson I’d make now is trying to find a more zeitgeist-y song with the hope that the groans at the beginning die down a little faster.

itsfun

Teaching ELLs

Irina McGrath, Ph.D., is an assistant principal at Newcomer Academy in the Jefferson County school district in Kentucky and the president of KYTESOL. She is also an adjunct professor at the University of Louisville, Indiana University Southeast, and Bellarmine University. She is a co-creator of the ELL2.0 site that offers free resources for teachers of English learners:

Reflecting on my experience of teaching writing to English learners, I have come to realize that writing can be daunting, especially when students are asked to write in English, a language they are learning to master. The most successful writing lessons I have taught were those that transformed the process into an enjoyable experience, fostering a sense of accomplishment and pride in my students.

To achieve this, I prioritized the establishment of a supportive learning environment. At the beginning of each school year, I set norms that emphasized the importance of writing for everyone, including myself as their teacher. I encouraged students to write in English and their native language and I wrote alongside my English learners to demonstrate that writing is a journey that requires hard work and dedication, regardless of age or previous writing experiences. By witnessing my own struggles, my students felt encouraged to persevere.

My English learners understood that errors were expected and that they were valuable opportunities for growth and improvement. This created a comfortable atmosphere where students felt more confident taking risks and experimenting with their writing. Rather than being discouraged by mistakes, they viewed them as steppingstones toward progress.

In my most effective writing lessons, I provided scaffolds such as sentence stems, sentence frames, and word banks. I also encouraged my students to use translation tools to help generate ideas on paper. These scaffolds empowered English learners to independently tackle more challenging writing assignments and nurtured their confidence in completing writing tasks. During writers’ circles, we discussed the hard work invested in each writing piece, shared our work, and celebrated each other’s success.

Furthermore, my most successful writing lessons integrated reading and writing. I taught my students to read like writers and utilized mentor texts to emulate the craft of established authors, which they could later apply to their own writing. Mentor texts, such as picture books, short stories, or articles, helped my students observe how professional writers use dialogue, sentence structure, and descriptive language to enhance their pieces.

Instead of overwhelming students with information, I broke down writing into meaningful segments and taught through mini lessons. For example, we analyzed the beginnings of various stories to examine story leads. Then, collaboratively, my students and I created several leads together. When they were ready, I encouraged them to craft their own leads and select the most appropriate one for their writing piece.

Ultimately, my most effective lessons were those in which I witnessed the joyful smiles on my English learners’ faces as they engaged with pages filled with written or typed words. It is during those moments that I knew my writers were creating and genuinely enjoying their work.

To access a self-checklist that students and EL teachers can use when teaching or creating a writing piece in English, you can visit the infographic at bit.ly/ABC_of_Writing .

iprovided

‘Model Texts’

Anastasia M. Martinez is an English-language-development and AVID Excel teacher in Pittsburg, Calif.:

As a second-language learner, writing in English had not always been my suit. It was not until graduate school that I immersed myself in a vast array of journals, articles, and other academic works, which ultimately helped me find my academic voice and develop my writing style. Now, working as an ESL teacher with a diverse group of middle school multilingual learners, I always provide a model text relevant to a topic or prompt we are exploring.

When students have a model text, it gives them a starting point for their own writing and presents writing as less scary, where they get stuck on the first sentence and do not know how to start.

At the start of the lesson, prior to using a model text, I create a “do now” activity that guides my students’ attention to the topic and creates a relevant context for the text. After students share their ideas with a partner and then the class, we transition to our lesson objectives, and I introduce the model text. We first use prereading strategies to analyze the text, and students share what they notice based on the title, images, and a number of paragraphs. Then, depending on the students’ proficiency level, I read the text to the class, or students read the text as partners, thinking about what the text was mostly about.

After students read and share their ideas with partners and then the whole class, we transition to deconstructing the text. These multiple reengagements with the text help students become more familiar with it, as well as help students build reading fluency.

When deconstructing the model text, I guide my students through each paragraph and sentence. During that time, students orally share their ideas determining the meaning of specific paragraphs or sentences, which we later annotate in the model text using different colored highlighters or pens. Color coding helps visually guide students through similar parts of the model text. For instance, if we highlight evidence in paragraph 2 in one color, we also highlight evidence in the same color in the following paragraph. It helps students see the similarities between the paragraphs and discover the skeleton of the writing. Additionally, color coding helps students during their writing process and revision. Students can check if they used all parts of the writing based on the colors.

Furthermore, one of the essential pieces during deconstructing model texts that I draw my students’ attention to is transition words and “big words,” or academic vocabulary. We usually box them in the text, and I question students about why the author used a particular word in the text. Later, when students do their own writing, they can integrate new vocabulary and transition words, which enhances their vocabulary and language skills.

As the next step, I invite students to co-create a similar piece of writing with a partner or independently using our model text as their guide. Later, our model text serves as a checklist for individual and partner revisions, which students could use to give each other feedback.

Model texts are an essential part of the writing process in any content-area class. As educators, we should embrace the importance of model texts, as they provide a solid foundation upon which students can develop their unique writing skills, tone, and voice.

modeltexts

Thanks to Penny, Stephanie, Irina, and Anastasia for contributing their thoughts!

Consider contributing a question to be answered in a future post. You can send one to me at [email protected] . When you send it in, let me know if I can use your real name if it’s selected or if you’d prefer remaining anonymous and have a pseudonym in mind.

You can also contact me on Twitter at @Larryferlazzo .

Just a reminder; you can subscribe and receive updates from this blog via email . And if you missed any of the highlights from the first 12 years of this blog, you can see a categorized list here .

The opinions expressed in Classroom Q&A With Larry Ferlazzo are strictly those of the author(s) and do not reflect the opinions or endorsement of Editorial Projects in Education, or any of its publications.

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teaching writing best practices

Read this blog online at https://www.collaborativeclassroom.org/blog/teaching-evidence-based-writing-instruction/

Our Approach to Evidence-Based Writing Instruction

By Sarah Rosenthal & Lisa Borah-Geller | Categories: Writing

How does our Being a Writer program weave together the many threads of evidence-based writing instruction? In this blog post, veteran educators and Collaborative Classroom curriculum developers Sarah Rosenthal and Lisa Borah-Geller unpack our research-aligned approach to teaching writing in grades K–5.

Introduction: Developing Young Writers

We all light up when we see small children express themselves spontaneously, through a drawing, a song, a somersault, a giggle, or a heartfelt sigh. And we all admire the great writers whose texts impart powerful insights, make the bestseller lists, or morph into movies that move us.

What happens in between?

Not every student will become a renowned author, of course –– though some most certainly will. But all of our students can and should come to see themselves as writers and grow in their ability to write clearly, creatively, and purposefully.

All of our students can and should come to see themselves as writers and grow in their ability to write clearly, creatively, and purposefully.

So how do we nurture that original, expressive spark we celebrate in the very young, while steadily feeding and guiding the flame? How do we develop writers who are able to confidently and effectively communicate through written language, so that they can succeed in school and beyond?

Evidence-Based Practices

According to the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) at the National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, a successful writing program must:

  • Provide time to write daily
  • Teach the writing process and have students apply it for a variety of purposes
  • Help students develop fluency with handwriting, spelling, sentence construction, and typing and word-processing
  • Create an engaged community of writers 1

The work of numerous experts in the field of writing instruction underscores the importance of the guidelines recommended by IES. Research has demonstrated that “increasing the amount of time students spend writing enhanced the quality of their text” and that “highly effective teachers asked students to write often and for a variety of purposes.” 2

Research also indicates that students need authentic opportunities (such as those provided by the writing-process approach) to use grammar, usage, and mechanics skills to improve their writing. 3   Studies have made clear that spelling and handwriting need to be taught explicitly and become automatic and fluent so students can focus on conveying meaning through writing. 4

Studies have also indicated that students who experience a sense of community at school perform better academically, along with a host of other benefits. 5

teaching writing best practices

Research also supports a number of additional practices that operate in harmony with the IES guidelines. These include providing access to strong mentor texts, modeling and guiding students through the writing process, and providing feedback to students on their writing from both teachers and peers. 6, 7, 8, 9   Teacher feedback not only benefits students, but serves as a type of formative assessment that helps teachers adjust classroom instruction to target student needs. 10

Writing about reading has been shown to be particularly beneficial, and students who write in response to texts usually improve their reading and writing skills and their content knowledge. 11 In addition, the role of culturally and linguistically responsive teaching is crucial in helping create an inclusive learning environment that fosters academic engagement and growth for all students. 12   

Rooted in the Evidence; True to Our Mission

The approach to writing instruction in Being a Writer , our comprehensive K–5 writing curriculum, is rooted in these evidence-based practices. We also stay true to Collaborative Classroom’s commitment to educating the whole child by blending social development and academic instruction.

Our approach supports teachers with making their classrooms more culturally and linguistically responsive. Students draw on their own experiences, knowledge, and linguistic backgrounds, exercise meaningful choice of writing topics, and write for authentic purposes. 

All instruction takes place within the classroom writing community, in which every student is a valued and supported member. Students regularly publish their finished work and share it with their community.

Our approach also supports instructional equity in the teaching of writing by providing a year-long program of grade-specific, fully articulated lessons, providing teachers with robust, consistent, carefully paced K–5 instruction that is grounded in Collaborative Classroom’s more than four decades of research and practice. 

These daily lessons incorporate highly engaging mentor texts selected to exemplify genre characteristics, specific writing strategies and organizational structures, and author’s craft. The texts are also chosen for their capacity to both mirror students’ diverse backgrounds and provide windows into the worlds of others. 13, 14, 15

The accompanying assessment and conferring tools have been assiduously designed to track students’ development, provide data needed to respond in real time to their evolving needs, and help teachers arrive at grades.

How Our Writing Instruction Unfolds

In our approach to writing instruction, students learn at an appropriate developmental pace, one that recognizes that younger students need time to learn foundational aspects of writing, while older students can move more quickly into learning about aspects of genre, author’s craft, and the writing process.

Kindergarten and Grade 1

I n grades K and 1 of our writing curriculum, our youngest students informally draft, revise, and publish their writing in preparation for learning the full writing process in grade 2. They engage in guided writing practice and shared writing, learning basic mechanics and skills of writing (including letter formation, punctuation, and spacing), as they exercise voice and choice through writing for authentic purposes. In grades K and 1, lessons are taught sequentially throughout the year, beginning with units on building the classroom community, getting ideas, and telling more. 

These units are followed in grade K by units on nonfiction, poetry, and opinion writing, and at grade 1 by units on personal narrative, nonfiction, poetry, and opinion writing.

Grade 2 and Beyond: The Complete Writing Process Introduced

The units in grade 2 are also taught sequentially. In the first unit of the year, students generate ideas for writing. In the second unit, they practice writing longer pieces by telling more and adding details to their writing. In the third unit, students are introduced to the remaining stages in the writing process: selecting a draft, revising it, proofreading it for publication, and presenting the final piece from the Author’s Chair. Each subsequent unit employs this process as it addresses a specific genre (fiction, nonfiction, letter writing, opinion writing, and poetry).

In grades 3–5, a beginning-of-year unit introduces the first stages of the writing process—generating ideas and drafting—while allowing students to try their hand at a range of genres. The second unit introduces students to the remaining stages of the writing process. Subsequent units—which focus on the genres of personal narrative, expository nonfiction, fiction, opinion writing, and poetry—incorporate the writing process and can be taught in any order.

At all grades, students also have the opportunity to write in response to reading, for example writing about their connections to and opinions of mentor texts and summarizing what they learn about a topic through shared or individual writing.

Incorporating Spelling, Grammar Skills, and Conventions, K–5

In grades K–2, spelling activities, including strategic spelling, are woven into the lessons. At grade K, age-appropriate grammar and the conventions of written English are taught explicitly during the core lessons, and some skills are reinforced in extensions.  

Skills and conventions in grades 1–5 are taught throughout each unit in lessons that focus specifically on grammar, usage, and mechanics. In these lessons, the students analyze model sentences from or about mentor texts; then incorporate what they learn by writing shared sentences as a class and their own sentences with a partner. 

The skills and conventions taught are reinforced through teacher modeling and class discussions, during individual writing conferences, and, for grades 2–5, throughout the revision and proofreading phases of the writing process.

Teaching Digital Literacy, K–5

To help students develop the digital literacy skills they need to confidently articulate their ideas in an increasingly digital world, technology extensions at grades K–2 offer suggestions for publishing writing digitally. 

In grades 3–5, the use of digital tools is embedded into the writing process: students are taught to revise and proofread writing using word processors and conduct online research for informational reports.

While the writing process itself has been shown to help students prepare for standardized tests, we also offer detailed, grade-specific guides that help students prepare for end-of-year summative writing assessments in grades 3–5.  Each guide provides explicit instruction toward this goal and can be used between genre units. 

Braiding Together Social Skills and Academics

The integration of social skills development and academics is fundamental to our pedagogy, and many lessons across grades K–5 braid these strands together through the use of cooperative structures such as “Turn to Your Partner” and “Think, Pair, Share.”

Students also develop social skills by explicitly discussing these skills as a class and through consistent opportunities for students to provide feedback on one another’s writing . Facilitation tips provide techniques teachers can use to encourage student voice and autonomy.

At all grades, lessons early in the year emphasize enjoyment and exploration, because we know that students must feel motivated to write in order to persevere in the ever-evolving journey of developing as writers. And at all grades, the year ends with a culminating week of instruction that helps our young writers reflect on their growth.

Helping Students Write and Teachers Teach with Evidence-Based Writing Instruction

Writing well is not easy. No worthy task is, whether you’re climbing a mountain, playing the drums, or writing code. The teaching of writing requires a careful balancing of freedom and discipline, so that students become equally willing to take creative risks and attend to the nuances of writerly craft. 

Collaborative Classroom’s approach to teaching writing weaves together the many threads of evidence-based writing instruction in a seamless and effective way. This allows students to develop their innate capacity for powerful self-expression within a safe, caring environment, and allows teachers to focus on their calling: the teaching of students.

Learn more about Being a Writer .

Read an interview with Elyse Eidman-Aadahl, executive director of National Writing Project and a Collaborative Classroom board member, about why the teaching of writing should be on an equal footing with reading instruction.

1 G raham, Steve, Alisha Bollinger, Carol Booth Olson, Catherine D’Aoust, Charles MacArthur, Deborah McCutchen, and Natalie Olinghouse. Teaching Elementary School Students to Be Effective Writers: A Practice Guide (NCEE 2012-4058). Washington, DC: National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, 2012. Retrieved from http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/publications_reviews.aspx#pubsearch.

2 G raham, Steve, Karen R. Harris, and Amber B. Chambers. “Evidence-Based Practice and Writing Instruction.” In Handbook of Writing Research , 2nd ed., edited by Charles A. Macarthur, Steve Graham, and Jill Fitzgerald, 211–26. New York: Guilford, 2016.

3 Troia, Gary A. Evidence-based practices for writing instruction (Document No. IC-5), 2014. Retrieved from University of Florida, Collaboration for Effective Educator, Development, Accountability, and Reform Center website: http://ceedar.education.ufl.edu/tools/innovation-configuration/.

4 Alves, Rui Alexander, Teresa Limpo, Naymé Salas, and R. Malatesha Joshi. “Handwriting and Spelling.” In Best Practices in Writing Instruction , 3rd ed., edited by Steve Graham, Charles A. MacArthur, and Michael Hebert, 211–239. New York: Guilford, 2019. 

5 Durlak, Joseph A., Roger P. Weissberg, Allison B. Dymnicki, Rebecca D. Taylor, and Kriston B. Schellinger. “The Impact of Enhancing Students’ Social and Emotional Learning: A Meta-Analysis of School-Based Universal Interventions.” Child Development 82, no. 1 (January/February 2011): 405–32.

6 Graham, Steve, Alisha Bollinger, Carol Booth Olson, Catherine D’Aoust, Charles MacArthur, Deborah McCutchen, and Natalie Olinghouse. Teaching Elementary School Students to Be Effective Writers. Educator’s Practice Guide NCEE 2012-4058. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, 2012. https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/Docs/practiceguide/writing_pg_062612.pdf .

7 MacArthur, Charles A. “Evaluation and Revision.” Best Practices in Writing Instruction , 3rd ed., edited by Steve Graham, Charles A. MacArthur, and Michael Hebert, 287–308. New York: Guilford, 2019.

8 Friedrich, Linda. “Setting Up the Writing Classroom.” Best Practices in Writing Instruction , 3rd ed., edited by Steve Graham, Charles A. MacArthur, and Michael Hebert, 31–50. New York: Guilford, 2019.

9 Patchan, Melissa M., Christian D. Schunn, and Richard J. Correntia. “The Nature of Feedback: How Peer Feedback Features Affect Students’ Implementation Rate and Quality of Revisions,” Journal of Educational Psychology, 108 , no. 8 (November 2016): 1098–1120. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000103 .

10 Graham, Steve, Karen R. Harris, and Tanya Santangelo. “Research-Based Writing Practices and the Common Core: Meta-analysis and Meta-synthesis,” The Elementary School Journal , 115, no. 4 (June 2015): 498–522. https://www.georgiastandards.org/Georgia-Standards/Documents/ELA-Webinars/ELA-6-12-Essential-Components-of-Teaching-Writing-Supporting-Document-Session-Two.pd f.

11 Shanahan, Timothy. “Reading-Writing Connections.” In Best Practices in Writing Instruction , 3rd ed., edited by Steve Graham, Charles A. MacArthur, and Michael Hebert, 309–332. New York: Guilford, 2019.

12 Darling-Hammond, Linda, Lisa Flook, Channa Cook-Harvey, Brigid Barron, and David Osher. “Implications for Educational Practice of the Science of Learning and Development.” Applied Developmental Science 24, no. 2 (2020): 97–140. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888691.2018.1537791 .

13 Hammond, Zaretta. Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin, 2015.  

14 Gatlin-Nash, Brandy, Lakeisha Johnson, and Ryan Lee-James. “Linguistic Differences and Learning to Read for Nonmainstream Dialect Speakers.” Perspectives on Language and Literacy 46, no. 3 (2020): 28–35.

15 Souto-Manning, Mariana, Carmen Lugo Lerna, Jessica Martell, Abigail Salas Maguire, Alicia Arce-Boardman. No More Culturally Irrelevant Teaching . Part of Not This But That series, eds. Ellin Oliver Keene and Nell K. Duke. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2018.

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Johns Hopkins University

Teaching Writing Specialization

Teaching Writing Reading Learning Leader. Examine and apply theories and best practices to improve the teaching of writing to students of all grade levels and disciplines, in and out of a formal school environment.

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Instructor: Mark Farrington

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Specialization - 5 course series

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Teaching experience, or a desire to become a teacher in the future, and to use writing in some capacity with your students, whether within or outside a formal school environment, and regardless of grade level or discipline.

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Theories and practical methods to teach writing to students of all grade levels in all disciplines and situations.

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  • Curriculum Design

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This specialization will provide learners with proven methods to improve the writing of students of all ages, in all situations, including K through University classrooms as well as homeschooling, tutoring, in business and the private sector. In four courses and a final project, you’ll learn effective theories and practices to teach writing that you can adapt to your own teaching situation and needs. You’ll learn how to teach writing as process, how to reach even the most reluctant writers, how to help students construct specific texts and make the reading/writing connection, and how to respond to and assess student writing in ways that are meaningful to both teacher and student. If you use writing in your teaching, or want to, this specialization will provide you with tools and practices you can use with your students right away.

Applied Learning Project

Learners will examine and adapt best practices in the teaching of writing to meet their own students’ needs and situations, regardless of grade level, discipline or skill level. They will create activities and lesson plans designed to help their students improve their writing skills, and will reflect on the theories and values that guide their teaching.

Teaching Writing Process

What the writing process is and how it can help improve student writing.

How writing as discovery, low-stakes writing and reflection can help students grow more comfortable and confident as writers.

Teaching Reluctant Writers

Reasons why students might be reluctant writers, and tools and techniques to help them become more comfortable and confident as writers.

Teaching Texts and Forms

How to teach a variety of writing forms, including argument, personal writing and creative writing.

How to connect reading and writing in teaching your students.

Responding, Revising and Assessing Student Writings

Best practices for responding to student writing.

Strategies and techniques for teaching revision.

Theories and strategies for assessing student writing.

Teaching Writing Final Project

One of the goals of the Teaching Writing specialization has been to help every learner consider ways to adapt what they are learning and apply it to their specific situation, needs and interests. The theories, strategies and practices presented in these courses are sound, and can work with any student of any age and skill level, provided each learner is able to adapt their learning and apply it to their specific students, current or future. In this final project, learners will select one component from each of the four courses that are among the most important things they learned from that course. They will describe what these components are, explain why they are important to the learner, and create a plan for incorporating that new learning into their teaching or their own writing going forward.

teaching writing best practices

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Frequently asked questions

How long does it take to complete the specialization.

Each course contains three or four modules, and each module should take one week to complete. The specialization has sixteen modules total, so learners should plan on 16 to 18 weeks total time.

What background knowledge is necessary?

Teaching experience is helpful but not necessary. An interest in teaching, plus a desire to use writing in some capacity in your teaching, will allow you to earn the greatest benefits.

Do I need to take the courses in a specific order?

It's best if you take the first course, "Teaching Writing as Process," first, since they provides a framework for the other courses. After completing the first course, you may take the other courses in any order you wish, with the Final Project being taken last.

Will I earn university credit for completing the Specialization?

Completing the Specialization does not include university credit.

What will I be able to do upon completing the Specialization?

If you teach now, you'll be able to incorporate new strategies and practices to help improve your students' writing. You may be able to use the Specialization courses for professional development credit at your school. You may also become a teacher leader who can share what you have learned about teaching writing with your colleagues. If you're hoping to teach in the future, you will bring an impressive understanding of the theories and practices behind teaching writing to any job interview, along with the confidence that comes with entering your classroom with a full toolbox of ways to teach writing.

I have no teaching experience. Will I be able to do everything asked in the courses?

            Absolutely. You don’t need teaching experience to do everything asked, and to benefit from these courses. We’ll provide options such as “what do you do (in a particular situation), or what would you do once you begin teaching?” Even if you’re not a teacher yet, we ask you only to begin to think like a teacher. If you have some idea of what grade level or subject you’d like to teach in the future, so much the better, but even that isn’t necessary.

I teach privately but not in an academic setting. Can I benefit from this specialization?

Yes. Everything in these courses is geared toward providing the flexibility for you to adapt the learning to your own personal situation. For example, we might talk about the value of and best practices for using a mentor text with your students. The core principles taught will be the same for everyone, but clearly, the mentor text a fourth-grade teacher chooses will be different from one a twelfth-grade teacher chooses, and different as well from what someone teaching in a private setting might select.

I’m not an English teacher. I teach Science, but I’d like my students to write more. Will this specialization help me?

Definitely. All you need is the desire to use writing in your classes, regardless of the discipline you teach. It’s especially exciting – and rewarding for their students – when non-English or Language Arts teachers bring writing into their content areas. In these courses, you’ll learn techniques and practices to add to your already existing toolbox, and you might discover some new ideas as well. The key is in staying on the lookout for ways to adapt what you’re learning to your own specific discipline and situation.

I teach writing, but I don’t enjoy doing it myself. Will I have to do much writing in these courses?

There will be a fair amount of writing in each of these courses, via Discussion prompts and Peer Review assignments. However, you’ll be given clear instructions for all the writing you’re asked to do, and we’ll start small, with non-stressful, low-risk writings to help you grow more comfortable with writing. You might even find some of the techniques covered in the Specialization’s second course, “Teaching Reluctant Writers,” will work for you as well. Even if a particular writing seems to ask you to step outside your comfort zone, use it as a learning experience, a way to put yourself in your students’ shoes when they are given a writing assignment that challenges them as well. You can learn a lot about teaching writing from exploring your own writing. You don’t have to want to be a professional writer; you just have to be willing to give everything a try.

I’ve been teaching writing for twenty years. How can this specialization help me?

            I believe it will. While you may be familiar with many of the concepts taught in these courses, you’ll likely add new tools to your toolbox and perhaps gain a new perspective on some of those familiar practices. Each course contains additional readings for those who want to go a bit beyond the required course material, and the flexibility we emphasize in our courses should allow you to focus on those theories and practices that will be most valuable for you. There’s no doubt you’ll have a lot to offer your fellow learners, and you might feel a renewed energy from being among an enthusiastic learning community.

Is this course really 100% online? Do I need to attend any classes in person?

This course is completely online, so there’s no need to show up to a classroom in person. You can access your lectures, readings and assignments anytime and anywhere via the web or your mobile device.

What is the refund policy?

If you subscribed, you get a 7-day free trial during which you can cancel at no penalty. After that, we don’t give refunds, but you can cancel your subscription at any time. See our full refund policy Opens in a new tab .

Can I just enroll in a single course?

Yes! To get started, click the course card that interests you and enroll. You can enroll and complete the course to earn a shareable certificate, or you can audit it to view the course materials for free. When you subscribe to a course that is part of a Specialization, you’re automatically subscribed to the full Specialization. Visit your learner dashboard to track your progress.

Is financial aid available?

Yes. In select learning programs, you can apply for financial aid or a scholarship if you can’t afford the enrollment fee. If fin aid or scholarship is available for your learning program selection, you’ll find a link to apply on the description page.

Can I take the course for free?

When you enroll in the course, you get access to all of the courses in the Specialization, and you earn a certificate when you complete the work. If you only want to read and view the course content, you can audit the course for free. If you cannot afford the fee, you can apply for financial aid Opens in a new tab .

More questions

Classroom Q&A

With larry ferlazzo.

In this EdWeek blog, an experiment in knowledge-gathering, Ferlazzo will address readers’ questions on classroom management, ELL instruction, lesson planning, and other issues facing teachers. Send your questions to [email protected]. Read more from this blog.

How to Help Students With Their Writing. 4 Educators Share Their Secrets

teaching writing best practices

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Teaching students to write is no easy feat, and it’s a topic that has often been discussed on this blog.

It’s also a challenge that can’t have too much discussion!

Today, four educators share their most effective writing lessons.

‘Three Practices That Create Confident Writers’

Penny Kittle teaches first-year writers at Plymouth State University in New Hampshire. She was a teacher and literacy coach in public schools for 34 years and is the author of nine books, including Micro Mentor Texts (Scholastic). She is the founder and president of the Book Love Foundation, which annually grants classroom libraries to teachers throughout North America:

I write almost every day. Like anything I want to do well, I practice. Today, I wrote about the wild dancing, joyful energy, and precious time I spent with my daughter at a Taylor Swift concert. Then I circled back to notes on Larry’s question about teaching writers. I wrote badly, trying to find a through line. I followed detours and crossed out bad ideas. I stopped to think. I tried again. I lost faith in my words. I will get there , I told myself. I trust my process.

I haven’t always written this easily or this much. I wouldn’t say I’m a “natural” writer because I don’t believe they exist. Writing is work. When I entered college, I received a C-minus on my first paper. I was stunned. I had never worked at writing: I was a “first drafter,” an “only drafter.” And truthfully, I didn’t know how or what to practice. I was assigned writing in high school and I completed it. I rarely received feedback. I didn’t get better. I didn’t learn to think like a writer; I thought like a student.

I’ve now spent 40 years studying writing and teaching writers in kindergarten, elementary school, middle school, and high school, as well as teachers earning graduate degrees. Despite their age, writers in school share one remarkably similar trait: a lack of confidence. Confidence is a brilliant and fiery light; it draws your eyes, your heart, and your mind. But in fact, it is as rare as the Northern Lights. I feel its absence every fall in my composition courses.

We can change that.

Confidence blooms in classrooms focused on the growth of writers.

This happens in classrooms where the teacher relies less on lessons and more on a handful of practices. Unfortunately, though, in most classrooms, a heap of time is spent directing students to practice “writing-like” activities: restrictive templates for assignments, with detailed criteria focused on rules. Those activities handcuff writers. If you tell me what to do and how to do it, I will focus on either completing the task or avoiding it. That kind of writing work doesn’t require much thinking; it is merely labor.

Practice creating, on the other hand, is harder, but it is how we develop the important ability to let our ideas come and then shaping them into cohesive arguments, stories, poems, and observations. We have misunderstood the power of writing to create thinking. Likewise, we have misunderstood the limitations of narrow tasks. So, here are my best instructional practices that lead to confidence and growth in writers.

1. Writing Notebooks and Daily Revision. Writers need time to write. Think of it as a habit we begin to engage in with little effort, like serving a tennis ball from the baseline or dribbling a basketball or sewing buttonholes. Writers need daily time to whirl words, to spin ideas, to follow images that blink inside them as they move their pen across the page. In my classroom, writing time most often follows engagement with a poem.

Likewise, writers need guidance in rereading their first drafts of messy thinking. I’ve seen teachers open their notebooks and invite students to watch them shape sentences. They demonstrate how small revisions increase clarity and rhythm. Their students watch them find a focus and maintain it. Teachers show the effort and the joy of writing well.

Here’s an example: We listen to a beautiful poem such as “Montauk” by Sarah Kay, her tribute to growing up. Students write freely from lines or images that spring to them as they listen. I write in my notebook as students write in theirs for 4-5 minutes. Then I read my entry aloud, circling subjects and detours ( I don’t know why I wrote so much about my dog, but maybe I have more to say about this … ). I model how to find a focus. I invite students to do the same.

2. Writers Study Writing . Writers imitate structures, approaches, and ways of reaching readers. They read like writers to find possibilities: Look what the writer did here and here . A template essay can be an effective tool to write for a test, but thankfully, that is a very small and insignificant part of the whole of writing for any of us. Real writing grows from studying the work of other writers. We study sentences, passages, essays, and articles to understand how they work, as we create our own.

3. Writers Have Conversations as They Work . When writers practice the skills and embrace the challenges of writing in community, it expands possibilities. Every line read from a notebook carries the mark of a particular writer: the passion, the voice, the experiences, and the vulnerability of each individual. That kind of sharing drives process talk ( How did you think to write about that? Who do you imagine you are speaking to? ), which showcases the endless variation in writers and leads to “writerly thinking.” It shifts conversations from “right and wrong” to “how and why.”

Long ago, at a local elementary school, in a workshop for teachers, I watched Don Graves list on the chalkboard subjects he was considering writing about. He read over his list and chose one. From there, he wrote several sentences, talking aloud about the decisions he was making as a writer. Then he turned to accept and answer questions.

“Why do this?” someone asked.

“Because you are the most important writer in the room,” Don said. “You are showing students why anyone would write when they don’t have to.” He paused, then added, “If not you, who?”

confidenceblooms

Developing ‘Student Voice’

A former independent school English teacher and administrator, Stephanie Farley is a writer and educational consultant working with teachers and schools on issues of curriculum, assessment, instruction, SEL, and building relationships. Her book, Joyful Learning: Tools to Infuse Your 6-12 Classroom with Meaning, Relevance, and Fun is available from Routledge Eye on Education:

Teaching writing is my favorite part of being a teacher. It’s incredibly fun to talk about books with kids, but for me, it’s even more fun to witness students’ skills and confidence grow as they figure out how to use written language to communicate what they mean.

A lesson I used to like doing was in “voice.” My 8th graders had a hard time understanding what I meant when I asked them to consider “voice” in their writing. The best illustration I came up with was playing Taylor Swift’s song “Blank Space” for students. Some students groaned while others clapped. (Doesn’t this always happen when we play music for students? There’s no song that makes everyone happy!) But when they settled down, I encouraged them to listen to the style: the arrangement, her voice as she sang, the dominant instruments.

Then, I played a cover of “Blank Space” by Ryan Adams. Eyes rolled as the song unfurled through the speakers, but again I reminded students to listen to the arrangement, voice, and instruments. After about 60 seconds of the Adams version, heads nodded in understanding. When the music ended and I asked students to explain voice to me, they said it’s “making something your own … like your own style.” Yes!

The next step was applying this new understanding to their own writing. Students selected a favorite sentence from the books they were reading, then tried to write it in their own voice. We did this a few times, until everyone had competently translated Kwame Alexander into “Rosa-style” or Kelly Link into “Michael-style.” Finally, when it was time for students to write their own longer works—stories, personal essays, or narratives—they intentionally used the words and sentence patterns they had identified as their own voice.

I’m happy to report this method worked! In fact, it was highly effective. Students’ papers were more idiosyncratic, nuanced, and creative. The only change to this lesson I’d make now is trying to find a more zeitgeist-y song with the hope that the groans at the beginning die down a little faster.

itsfun

Teaching ELLs

Irina McGrath, Ph.D., is an assistant principal at Newcomer Academy in the Jefferson County school district in Kentucky and the president of KYTESOL. She is also an adjunct professor at the University of Louisville, Indiana University Southeast, and Bellarmine University. She is a co-creator of the ELL2.0 site that offers free resources for teachers of English learners:

Reflecting on my experience of teaching writing to English learners, I have come to realize that writing can be daunting, especially when students are asked to write in English, a language they are learning to master. The most successful writing lessons I have taught were those that transformed the process into an enjoyable experience, fostering a sense of accomplishment and pride in my students.

To achieve this, I prioritized the establishment of a supportive learning environment. At the beginning of each school year, I set norms that emphasized the importance of writing for everyone, including myself as their teacher. I encouraged students to write in English and their native language and I wrote alongside my English learners to demonstrate that writing is a journey that requires hard work and dedication, regardless of age or previous writing experiences. By witnessing my own struggles, my students felt encouraged to persevere.

My English learners understood that errors were expected and that they were valuable opportunities for growth and improvement. This created a comfortable atmosphere where students felt more confident taking risks and experimenting with their writing. Rather than being discouraged by mistakes, they viewed them as steppingstones toward progress.

In my most effective writing lessons, I provided scaffolds such as sentence stems, sentence frames, and word banks. I also encouraged my students to use translation tools to help generate ideas on paper. These scaffolds empowered English learners to independently tackle more challenging writing assignments and nurtured their confidence in completing writing tasks. During writers’ circles, we discussed the hard work invested in each writing piece, shared our work, and celebrated each other’s success.

Furthermore, my most successful writing lessons integrated reading and writing. I taught my students to read like writers and utilized mentor texts to emulate the craft of established authors, which they could later apply to their own writing. Mentor texts, such as picture books, short stories, or articles, helped my students observe how professional writers use dialogue, sentence structure, and descriptive language to enhance their pieces.

Instead of overwhelming students with information, I broke down writing into meaningful segments and taught through mini lessons. For example, we analyzed the beginnings of various stories to examine story leads. Then, collaboratively, my students and I created several leads together. When they were ready, I encouraged them to craft their own leads and select the most appropriate one for their writing piece.

Ultimately, my most effective lessons were those in which I witnessed the joyful smiles on my English learners’ faces as they engaged with pages filled with written or typed words. It is during those moments that I knew my writers were creating and genuinely enjoying their work.

To access a self-checklist that students and EL teachers can use when teaching or creating a writing piece in English, you can visit the infographic at bit.ly/ABC_of_Writing .

iprovided

‘Model Texts’

Anastasia M. Martinez is an English-language-development and AVID Excel teacher in Pittsburg, Calif.:

As a second-language learner, writing in English had not always been my suit. It was not until graduate school that I immersed myself in a vast array of journals, articles, and other academic works, which ultimately helped me find my academic voice and develop my writing style. Now, working as an ESL teacher with a diverse group of middle school multilingual learners, I always provide a model text relevant to a topic or prompt we are exploring.

When students have a model text, it gives them a starting point for their own writing and presents writing as less scary, where they get stuck on the first sentence and do not know how to start.

At the start of the lesson, prior to using a model text, I create a “do now” activity that guides my students’ attention to the topic and creates a relevant context for the text. After students share their ideas with a partner and then the class, we transition to our lesson objectives, and I introduce the model text. We first use prereading strategies to analyze the text, and students share what they notice based on the title, images, and a number of paragraphs. Then, depending on the students’ proficiency level, I read the text to the class, or students read the text as partners, thinking about what the text was mostly about.

After students read and share their ideas with partners and then the whole class, we transition to deconstructing the text. These multiple reengagements with the text help students become more familiar with it, as well as help students build reading fluency.

When deconstructing the model text, I guide my students through each paragraph and sentence. During that time, students orally share their ideas determining the meaning of specific paragraphs or sentences, which we later annotate in the model text using different colored highlighters or pens. Color coding helps visually guide students through similar parts of the model text. For instance, if we highlight evidence in paragraph 2 in one color, we also highlight evidence in the same color in the following paragraph. It helps students see the similarities between the paragraphs and discover the skeleton of the writing. Additionally, color coding helps students during their writing process and revision. Students can check if they used all parts of the writing based on the colors.

Furthermore, one of the essential pieces during deconstructing model texts that I draw my students’ attention to is transition words and “big words,” or academic vocabulary. We usually box them in the text, and I question students about why the author used a particular word in the text. Later, when students do their own writing, they can integrate new vocabulary and transition words, which enhances their vocabulary and language skills.

As the next step, I invite students to co-create a similar piece of writing with a partner or independently using our model text as their guide. Later, our model text serves as a checklist for individual and partner revisions, which students could use to give each other feedback.

Model texts are an essential part of the writing process in any content-area class. As educators, we should embrace the importance of model texts, as they provide a solid foundation upon which students can develop their unique writing skills, tone, and voice.

modeltexts

Thanks to Penny, Stephanie, Irina, and Anastasia for contributing their thoughts!

Consider contributing a question to be answered in a future post. You can send one to me at [email protected] . When you send it in, let me know if I can use your real name if it’s selected or if you’d prefer remaining anonymous and have a pseudonym in mind.

You can also contact me on Twitter at @Larryferlazzo .

Just a reminder; you can subscribe and receive updates from this blog via email . And if you missed any of the highlights from the first 12 years of this blog, you can see a categorized list here .

The opinions expressed in Classroom Q&A With Larry Ferlazzo are strictly those of the author(s) and do not reflect the opinions or endorsement of Editorial Projects in Education, or any of its publications.

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Building Lifelong Writing Skills

Instead of addressing a single piece of writing, elementary teachers can focus on students’ overall abilities and needs.

Elementary student writing in class

Are you looking for more effective ways to help your students become stronger writers? Would you love to be able to make the following statements?

  •  “I feel much more capable of identifying student needs in writing and teaching them strategies to use that improve their abilities.”
  •  “I feel as though I have a better understanding of what my students really need.” 

These quotes are from educators who were reflecting on their first year teaching a writers’ workshop after working with their colleagues and me throughout the year. Both took the time to dig into some new ideas that helped them change their instructional practices in writing so that they were asking questions and making choices that moved their writers forward.

Prior to this year, these teachers tended to lean toward what many teachers often do—talk to students about what they see in their writing piece at the moment. For example, you may notice that a student isn’t using any elaboration techniques and their sentences or paragraphs are very short and simple. You may look through their piece and then ask the student, “What did that look like?” And then after they tell you, you might say, “OK, why don’t you write that down?” 

But consider this: How will this correction or revision, which is based solely on that particular piece, help your student to elaborate well in their next piece?  Will they take the strategy of adding details about how something looks and apply it to their writing next time? 

In my experience, understanding  Lucy Calkins’s idea of how to teach the writer, not the writing, is what we need to help grow writers so that students will apply new strategies in their future work. You want to know your students’ strengths and needs as writers, not just what the current writing piece may need at the moment.  Then, and only then, will you provide them with the tools they need to improve their skills as writers.

Here are my tips for helping your writers grow in their abilities by providing them with what they need as writers.

Know your writers

The most important step to building up your writers is knowing them . Know their writing behaviors and ability level. There are three ways to accomplish this. 

First, you’ll want to administer and analyze an “on demand” writing piece, a piece of writing that’s written independently in one period of time. As the students are writing, take note of their behaviors and record what you notice—are they engaged, on task, planning, revising, and editing?

Look through each writing piece and take note of the strengths and weaknesses. A rubric would be a helpful tool for this stage of the process. Then look at each piece according to the strands of the rubric and identify where the students stand. 

The third way to know your writers is to talk to them. During independent writing time, meet with students and learn how they work. Ask them how they planned their writing piece, why they chose their topic, what they’ll be doing next, etc. 

These questions will provide important information about how students think about the writing process, and it’s also an effective way to identify any struggles that students may be having with engagement. If they haven’t spent much time writing, or if you’ve seen them up and about and not writing, this is a simple way to find out why.

Find the ‘base level’ of need

Many times, the first aspect of writing that you notice in a student’s piece is what you choose to work on with the writer. For example, if you notice in one student’s piece that they consistently write only a page or two before moving on to a new topic, you may decide that they need to build their stamina or elaborate more. 

There’s often something else beneath what we see in the writing, however, that’s causing the student difficulty. In this case, perhaps they didn’t take any time to plan or rehearse their writing. Missing this step of the writing process would certainly prevent them from knowing what to write, and as a result, they would have only a few ideas to include in their piece. 

Teachers need to identify the real reasons for any difficulties their writers may have so that they can identify what they truly need to learn. This is another area where talking to and questioning students will help. As you hear more about a writer’s process and decision-making, you’ll be able to more easily identify their base area of need. 

One tool I’ve found to be quite effective for teachers in identifying the base level of need is “The Hierarchy of Writing Goals,” from Jennifer Serravallo’s The Writing Strategies Book : Your Everything Guide to Developing Skilled Writers . 

Teach the writers what they need

Once you’ve established the students’ areas of need, consider what the next steps might be in those skill areas that will help them to grow as writers. In the above example of the student who wrote only a page or two before starting a new topic, this writer needs techniques for planning out their writing. When they engage in the planning portion of the writing process, they won’t run out of things to include in their piece. 

You’ll want to choose a few strategies and teach them one at a time, either within a whole-class mini-lesson, a small group, or a one-on-one conference. One helpful strategy for planning a writing piece is to draw a quick sketch for each step of the story on each page of a booklet. An effective planning strategy for an informational piece would be to use bullet points to establish subtopics.  

Be sure the students understand that this is something writers do to help them write more about their topic and that they can use this anytime they’re planning a new piece. 

Use language of the writing strategy, not the writing 

The example at the beginning of this post of the student not using any elaboration techniques, with the teacher then asking them to write something for the piece that provides more detail, is an illustration of “teaching the writing.” Instead, it would have been better to teach the student a strategy that writers use for elaboration that would be useful for that piece, as well as future pieces. 

You might say, “If writers want to help their readers to understand what they’re writing about, they need to elaborate with details. One way to do this as a writer is to include words that tell about how something looks. This will help the reader to visualize what they’re reading, which will be more interesting to them.”

Notice how the language is pointing to what writers do rather than what could or should be in the piece of writing. This language helps teachers to stay focused on the writer’s choices and moves, and it also helps your writers to understand that they make choices as a writer and that these skills can be used anytime they are writing. 

Language is a very powerful aspect of “teaching the writer” for both the teacher and the students. The words you use when teaching a strategy will help you gear your instruction toward the writers. When you change your focus to growing your writers for their future and provide them with what they need for writing a new piece independently, you’ll make a much larger impact. 

Know your writers, find their base level of need, and teach them strategies using language that focuses on the writer, not the writing. Your writers will be creating strong pieces in no time. 

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Best Practices in Writing Instruction

Third edition, edited by steve graham , charles a. macarthur , and michael a. hebert.

  • Incorporates the latest research and instructional procedures. See also Handbook of Writing Research, Second Edition , edited by Charles A. MacArthur, Steve Graham, and Jill Fitzgerald, which provides a comprehensive overview of writing research that informs good practice. -->

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  • contributors Rui Alexandre Alves , PhD, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal Ashley Bildfell , MA, Faculty of Education, School of Applied Child Psychology, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada Pietro Boscolo , PhD, Department of Developmental Psychology and Socialization, University of Padua, Padua, Italy Ralph P. Ferretti , PhD, School of Education, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware Erin FitzPatrick , PhD, Department of Special Education and Child Development, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, North Carolina Linda Friedrich , PhD, Research and Evaluation, National Writing Project, Berkeley, California Carmen Gelati , PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Milan–Bicocca, Milan, Italy Lauren Godfrey , MA, School of Education, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, California Steve Graham , EdD, Division of Educational Leadership and Innovation, Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona Karen R. Harris , EdD, Division of Educational Leadership and Innovation, Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona Katrina N. Haug , MA, Faculty of Education, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada Michael Hebert , PhD, Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska R. Malatesha Joshi , PhD, Literacy Education and Educational Psychology, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas Rachel Karchmer-Klein , PhD, School of Education, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware Perry D. Klein , PhD, Faculty of Education, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada William E. Lewis , PhD, School of Education, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware Teresa Limpo , PhD, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal Charles A. MacArthur , PhD, School of Education, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware Debra McKeown , PhD, Department of Teaching, Learning, and Culture, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas Carol Booth Olson , PhD, School of Education, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, California Adrian Pasquarella , PhD, School of Education, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware Amy Gillespie Rouse , PhD, Department of Teaching and Learning, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas Bruce Saddler , PhD, Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology, University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, New York Naymé Salas , PhD, Department of Language, Literature and Social Sciences Teaching, School of Educational Sciences, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain Timothy Shanahan , PhD, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois Joshua Wilson , PhD, School of Education, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware -->
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teaching writing best practices

  • Alisha Bollinger Norris Elementary School, Norris School District, Nebraska
  • Carol Booth Olsen University of California, Irvine
  • Catherine D'Aoust University of California, Irvine
  • Charles MacArthur University of Delaware
  • Deborah McCutchen University of Washington
  • Natalie Olinghouse University of Connecticut

What Works: Evidence-Based Math, Reading & Writing Tips for In-Person & Remote Instruction

teaching writing best practices

Interactive Writing Instruction Online with Young Children

teaching writing best practices

Evidence-Based Recommendations for Remote Writing Instruction in the Elementary Grades

teaching writing best practices

Instructional Tips Based on the Educator's Practice Guide Teaching Elementary School Students to Be Effective Writers

Inteview with Panel Chair Steve Graham on Writing as a Thinking Activity

The practice guide is accompanied by instructional tips, a summary of evidence for the instructional tips, and a practice guide summary. Click below to access any of the available resources.

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Best Practices for Teaching Writing Online and Remotely

Below are several resources on best practices for online writing instruction (OWI).  Many of these resources address writing instruction in traditional, in-person classrooms, but these practices can easily be adapted for online courses.  Consider reviewing the Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC) position statement before progressing to the other resources.  

  • In 2013, several leading scholars in writing studies and online learning composed a best practices statement for online writing instruction (OWI).  This statement is considered by the field of writing studies to be the standard statement of such practices.  Click here for the statement:
  • Click here for additional advice on how to teach online for the first time, including information about writing instruction.   
  • Doug Hesse, Executive Director of Writing at the University of Denver, wrote an overview of practices to consider when teaching writing in hybrid, online, and f2f settings.    
  • Asking students to submit writing assignments online allows instructors to provide more effective feedback to their writing.  Consider asking students to upload drafts to Canvas.  Then, write a letter to the writer in the “Assignment Comments” box, under “SpeedGrader” in which you provide formative comments for revision.  Once a student has submitted a revised version of the paper, you can then enter a summative assessment in the “Assignment Comments” box. 
  • Click here for best practices in providing formative comments on student drafts:  
  • Rebecca Moore Howard , “Beyond Gotcha! Situating Plagiarism in Policy and Pedagogy”  
  • Rebecca Moore Howard , “Forget about Policing Plagiarism, Just Teach”    
  • Nancy Sommers, “Responding to Student Writing”      
  • Colorado State University 1  
  • Colorado State University 2  
  • Carleton College    
  • Click here for resources on developing informal writing assignments across the curriculum.  
  • Scaffolding Assignments 1
  • Scaffolding Assignments 2  
  • Colorado State University Resources  
  • Stetson University
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4 Best Practices for Teaching Writing (K-2)

Susan Jones July 5, 2022 Leave a Comment

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In today’s blog post I wanted to share 4 research-based best practices for teaching writing in K-2 classrooms. I love to use the writing workshop structure where we begin with a focused mini-lesson, move to some modeled examples, then students practice writing on their own while I meet with students. And of course, we always end with a share of some kind!

While I love the writing workshop structure, I always want to make sure my lessons are detailed and targeted to help our youngest learners actually learn how to write. Over the last few years, I have developed targeted, more specific lessons with modeled teacher examples to help teach our K-2 students to write. Those can all be found in the SJT Writing Club!

Now for today’s post, I wanted to share what research says about teaching writing. What are the 4 things we need to keep top of mind when we are planning our writing lessons? To watch/listen to this information, I wanted to let you know I have it available here on YouTube so you can click play below:

Or feel free to keep scrolling!

Now, unfortunately, there just isn’t as much research that has been done when it comes to primary writing as there is about primary reading and math practices. But, there was a study referenced in my LETRS training that I went back and read more about. This study assessed students’ writing and found the best samples in both composition and foundational skills. Then, they assessed what those teachers were doing to produce such great writing and found these four best practices. You can read the entire study here: Teaching Elementary School Students to be Effective Writers

So here are their top 4 findings in terms of what teachers should do in their classrooms!

1. Provide daily writing time

teaching writing best practices

This is a specific, set-apart time to focus on writing. Now throughout the years of doing this teacher-online business and working closely with teachers, I hear SO often that it can be difficult to find the time to teach writing throughout the day. If you can set aside a 30-minute (at least) block of time per day to teach writing, it will help your students immensely!

2. Teach the writing process

teaching writing best practices

Now, this tip had part A and part B. The first part of teaching the writing process is to teach students to different parts of creating a writing piece. We brainstorm ideas, draft and write our work, revise, edit, and publish! Now many K-2 teachers often get overwhelmed by hearing this because they think  my students can’t even identify their letters, how can they revise their work?! I completely understand, but you need to think about what that looks like in our classroom and manage our expectations. Remember, the kindergarten writing standards include dictation!! Can your 5-6-year-old students brainstorm ideas?! Yes! Can they revise those ideas to add new details?! Yes! Our youngest students can certainly be introduced to all the aspects of the writing process and practice them!

The second part of this tip was that students need to also be taught the different genres of writing. In the students, the students with the most proficient writing had been taught what narrative, informative, and opinion writing was and how they differed from one another. These different types of writing look and sound different and our students need to know that and practice writing each kind.

3. Writing instruction needs to include composition skills AND foundational skills

teaching writing best practices

Students need to learn all the mechanics of writing! We already mentioned in tip 2 that students need to be taught the writing process and what different genres of writing should look like and sound like, but our students also need to learn the basics. In K-2, students need to learn sentence structure. They need to learn when to use capital letters and punctuation. They need to learn about verbs, nouns, and adjectives. It can be overwhelming to squeeze it all in, but be sure to add it into your main lessons that you are teaching the whole group AND your small group writing lessons too!

Now in terms of spelling, I always teach that during our phonics block! In my writing block, we focus on inventive spelling and using the patterns and sounds they know to make words. This helps students continue writing, but also makes sure they are getting what they need so they can encode and spell words correctly!

4. Create a community of engaged writers

teaching writing best practices

This was my favorite tip to read because the research backed something I loved doing in my classroom! I love to teach my students that we are ALL writers and that our words and stories are important. One way I like to foster this writing community in my classroom is to begin at the beginning of the year! Right away, I teach my students that we will be using our writing time to share our stories and that ALL our stories are worthy, regardless of how *much* we are writing. Some of us will be writing with pictures. Others will be using speech-to-text recordings. Others will be writing paragraphs. We all have worthy stories!

I like to have students share their work often as well. This can be as simple as having students share what they added to their work with a partner at the end of the lesson. This can also be hosting an author’s chair where students share their favorite parts of their story. We have hosted big author’s celebrations in our classroom before too, where family members or other classrooms come in and listen to our work. This helps students feel like real authors and know that their work is worth sharing with an audience.

Knowing these 4 research-backed best practices can help you prepare for a whole new year of teaching your students to write! Do you already do all these? Are there any you need to implement next year? Let me know down in the comments!

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Hello friends.

Welcome to Susan Jones Teaching. When it comes to the primary grades, learning *All Things* in the K-2 world has been my passion for many years! I just finished my M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction and love sharing all the latest and greatest strategies I learn with you through this blog and my YouTube channel! I hope you'll enjoy learning along with me :)

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Today’s Best Practices in Teaching Writing

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The Research Shows Series:  Current Views on Teaching Writing and Writer’s Workshop

What are today’s best practices in teaching writing? Decades of research have shown that isolated skill drills do little to improve student writing. All of the research indicates that students must spend more time writing in order to become effective writers. Students should be spending at least 45-90 minutes writing every single day.

More and more teachers are discovering that when students can organize and compose a complete essay in less than 30 minutes, teaching writing becomes easy! Even if your students are in elementary school or are struggling middle school writers, Pattern Based Writing: Quick & Easy Essay will make these writing dreams come true!

Read on to find out what some of the most important names in teaching writing research have to say about the best practices in teaching writing! After that, be sure to check out the Pattern Based Writing: Quick & Easy Essay writing program !

Writing Instruction: Current Practices in the Classroom

Over the past forty years, the emphasis in writing instruction has shifted from product to process. A companion ERIC Digest entitled “Writing Instruction: Changing Views over the Years” gives an overview of this development during the period from 1960 to 1999. The present digest focuses on the experiences of individual teachers as they searched for ways to put the principles of process writing into practice in the classroom.

WRITER’S WORKSHOPS

Teachers have found that writer’s workshops are effective in helping students master the principles of process writing in particular. “The term ‘writer’s workshop’ refers to an environment conceived to encourage written expression.” Because writing is difficult and risky, “children need to know that their environment is a predictable, safe place for them to take risks” (Bunce-Crim, 1991; cited in Bayer, 1999, p. 8).

Even first-graders can benefit from writer’s workshops. Fisher (1995) says that “writing workshop is an essential part of the curriculum in my first grade classroom, and almost every morning the children are involved in self-selected writing endeavors.” This lets students know that writing is important and that they can count on “daily opportunities to pursue their own topics, work by themselves or with friends, and begin a new piece every day or work on a story or book over time” (p. 1).

With young children, a systematic organization of materials is essential. Furthermore, a predictable routine helps children get organized first thing in the morning. Fisher also reads aloud to the class during the day so that children can hear different models of written language. Also, frequent mini-lessons are used to focus on specific areas of writing such as procedures (using a folder), strategies (such as using books to inspire topics), qualities of good writing, and skills (p. 2).

Bayer (1999) evaluated a first-grade class to find out whether or not students actually became more confident, proficient writers after participating in a writer’s workshop. Children actively participated in the workshop two or three times a week, and each session began with a mini-lesson that focused on a specific topic such as sentence structure, correct capitalization, punctuation, and grammar. After the mini-lesson the actual writing began, with the teacher modeling her own writing along with the children. The teacher worked with individuals as needed, helping each child focus on the appropriate step in the writing process.

Before beginning writer’s workshop, students were asked how they felt when the teacher said it was “writing time,” whether or not they liked to write, whether they preferred to pick their own topics, and how they described themselves as writers. The same questions were asked during the final weeks of the workshop. The results showed that to a great extent “writing workshops improve the feelings and attitudes that first graders have about writing, as well as how they feel about themselves” (Bayer, 1999, p. 6). For example, the percentage of children who looked forward to writing time almost doubled, and the number of those who said they liked to write jumped from 25 percent to 71 percent.

QUESTIONS ABOUT WRITER’S WORKSHOPS

Although the preceding comments suggest that children can benefit greatly from writer’s workshops, there are questions and potential problems that need to be considered. Sudol and Sudol (1991) discuss some of the questions that arose during the adoption of the process approach and during a writer’s workshop in a fifth-grade classroom taught by Peg Sudol.

In the first place, there is the question of time. Although some recommend as much as an hour of writing each day, it is difficult to devote this much time when other subjects must be taught as well. Also, curriculum requirements may make it difficult for students to choose their own topics because teachers are required to teach specific kinds of writing (Sudol & Sudol, 1991, p. 294).

Another problem relates to pacing and deadlines. It is true that all students should not be expected to work at the same pace, but a few students may have difficulty ever completing any project. In addition, students are often put off by workshops devoted to assigned writing types.

In general, the experience of Peg Sudol was positive in spite of the problems encountered early on. “In the main, her children enjoyed the writing. (Now they moaned and groaned whenever the workshop was canceled.) They wrote more than any of her previous students, and the quality of their writing was better” (1991, p. 299). Among the most productive parts of the writer’s workshop were the mini-lessons, in which students could address problems such as run-on sentences within the context of their own writing, not in abstract textbook lessons.

JOURNAL WRITING

Routman (2000) points out that journal writing is a good way to begin implementing a writing workshop because journals can “promote fluency in reading and writing, encourage risk taking, provide opportunities for reflection, and promote the development of written language conventions” (p. 233). However, the advantages of journal writing can be lost if teachers fail to monitor students’ work and to let them know what is expected.

All too often, children’s journals are flawed by sloppy, careless writing and frequent misspellings of easy words. Furthermore, they seldom show clear improvement over time because journal writing is too often used as a time filler, not as something the children feel is really worthwhile. In many cases, teachers do not provide any guidance for journal writing. They also tend to assign topics rather than letting students choose their own. Unfortunately, students come to accept sloppy writing and bad spelling as the norm for journals since they don’t seem to matter. Finally, teachers too often assign journal writing as an activity separate from writing workshop, which makes it appear that journal writing is not as important as “real writing.”

Routman suggests that journal writing can become more worthwhile if teachers encourage students to write for several days on a topic they care very much about and if they teach students how to write with detail and voice. Furthermore, students should realize that journal writing is only one type of writing they are expected to do, and they should maintain high standards for legibility and neatness (adapted from Routman, 2000, p. 235).

WRITING INSTRUCTION IN THE UPPER GRADES

Wartchow and Gustavson (1999) analyzed writing instruction in the upper grades by interviewing some high-school students from a large urban school and others from a private suburban school. They were immediately “struck by the modernist picture that the students painted of their schools” (p. 3). The modernist view is based on the belief that “there is a ‘natural order’ or ‘best way’ on which all methodology is based. Once discovered, this best way should be, indeed must be, followed” (Doll, 1993, p. 45; cited in Wartchow & Gustavson, 1999, p. 3).

In both schools, analytical writing was stressed above all else, with emphasis on the customary pattern: introductory paragraph, three body paragraphs, and conclusion. “Once the students write their five paragraph essays, often choosing theses created by the teacher, the teacher can easily grade them because there is an identifiable structure” (Wartchow & Gustavson, 1999, p. 5). This forces students to accept the format and procedure prescribed by the teacher. Furthermore, students come to rely on the teacher for topics and motivation; they are not shown how to develop and explore ideas on their own. They are also put off by the “simplicity and pettiness of their writing assignments” and the knowledge that teachers “only expect a sentence or two” when students respond to various readings (p. 7).

As for personal or creative writing, many students question its worth because it is given no value in school. They also believe that creative writing must necessarily lack coherence because it does not follow the five-paragraph pattern. Finally, some students realize that teachers view creative writing as chaotic and therefore worthless because it does not fit into a “required body of quantifiable, systematically constructed knowledge” (Wartchow & Gustavson, 1999, p. 11). When asked what kinds of creative assignments they would prefer, students provided some valuable insights. One told of rewriting the end of a Shakespeare play and then performing it for the class. Another was challenged by exploring what might happen if “Wuthering Heights” were set in the present day. Students also suggested that assigned topics could be turned into thesis statements, encouraging students to argue their points and take a more active approach to writing.

Students also find it difficult to reconcile the conflict between what they are required to write in school and what they want to write for themselves. Time constraints often cause students to “go through the motions” to complete a school project according to a prescribed procedure. Also, students realize that they can be intellectually lazy as they churn out school writing according to the required format; on their own, their writing leads them to probe below the surface and try to think things through.

As a result of the findings summarized above, the authors have been led “to argue for an aesthetic, post-modern orientation in the teaching of writing. Within the students’ frustrations and desires lies the question: Why do many English teachers not engage their students in a discourse on the aesthetics of writing?” (p. 20). A modernist writing curriculum fails to encourage proficient writers because it does not allow students the chance to experiment with various approaches beyond the five-sentence paragraph structure. In addition to advocating a clearer connection between the process and the product, the authors “also strongly believe that the power for understanding writing lies in the actual doing of the art, not in the exclusive observation of it” (Wartchow & Gustavson, 1999, p. 20).

“Too often in English classrooms, teachers expect students to critique the writing they read with little or no understanding of the craft, the historical context, or the personal nature of that writing. Essentially, students must write about an art of which they have no experience” (p. 20). By encouraging students to move beyond convenient structures and to enter into the intricate process of creating what goes into those structures, teachers can help them discover that what they have to say is important and that there are many ways to organize their thoughts to form convincing, coherent arguments.

Bayer, R. A. (1999). The effects of a first grader’s participation in a writer’s workshop on their ability to become more confident and more descriptive writers. Kean University: Master’s Research Project. 41 pages.

Bunce-Crim, M. (1991). What is a writing classroom? “Instructor”, 17(1), 36-38.

Doll, W. (1993). “A post-modern perspective on curriculum”. New York: Teacher’s College Press.

Fisher, B. (1995). Writing workshop in a first grade classroom. “Teaching PreK-8”, 26, 66-68.

Routman, R. (2000). “Conversations: Strategies for teaching, learning, and evaluating”. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Sudol, D., & Sudol, P. (1991). Another story: Putting Graves, Calkins, and Atwell into practice and perspective.

Wartchow, K., & Gustavson, L. (1999). “The art of the writer: An aesthetic look at the teaching of writing”. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Montreal, Canada.

Source: ERIC Clearinghouse

Author: Smith, Carl B.

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Best Practices for Teaching Writing

Best Practices for Teaching Writing What Award-Winning Classroom Teachers Do

  • Randi Stone - Educational Consultant, Keene, NH
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Add these innovative and proven strategies to your instructional toolbox!

Join Randi Stone as she visits the classrooms of award-winning teachers to observe their tried-and-tested best practices for teaching writing to diverse elementary, middle, and high school learners.

Linked to companion volumes for teaching mathematics and science, and presenting insightful methods for building student comprehension and confidence, this book:

  • Models techniques for improving achievement in literacy, vocabulary, student writing, and language arts
  • Demonstrates turning a classroom into a reading and writing oasis, teaching students to blend descriptive and narrative writing, and helping learners create persuasive cover letters
  • Illustrates techniques that utilize annotated bibliographies, "Punny Valentines," "Five Circles/Five Paragraphs," and much more

Packed with creative ideas and lessons that produce results, this resource will be used again and again by new and veteran teachers to expand their instructional repertoires and enrich students' writing experiences.

See what’s new to this edition by selecting the Features tab on this page. Should you need additional information or have questions regarding the HEOA information provided for this title, including what is new to this edition, please email [email protected] . Please include your name, contact information, and the name of the title for which you would like more information. For information on the HEOA, please go to http://ed.gov/policy/highered/leg/hea08/index.html .

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"Ideas and lesson plans that produce clear results make for an excellent teachers' handbook and education library reference."

Accurate and research-based information on educational best practices. It provides real-life scenarios in which these practices must be implemented. Great resource!

  • 27 tried-and-tested best practices for teaching writing to elementary, middle school, and high school learners in inclusive classrooms
  • Award-winning classroom teachers model and explain their favorite instructional techniques
  • Featured strategies include how to use a reading and writing oasis; blend narrative and descriptive writing; create persuasive cover letters; use annotated bibliographies, autobiography, punny valentines, five circles/five paragraphs; and much more
  • Companion volumes feature strategies for teaching Mathematics and Science

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Best Practices for Teaching Writing

Best Practices for Teaching Writing What Award-Winning Classroom Teachers Do

  • Randi Stone - Educational Consultant, Keene, NH
  • Description

"Ideas and lesson plans that produce clear results make for an excellent teachers' handbook and education library reference."

Accurate and research-based information on educational best practices. It provides real-life scenarios in which these practices must be implemented. Great resource!

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  2. 8 Smart Strategies for Teaching Writing

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  4. How to Teach Writing Skills

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COMMENTS

  1. Four Strategies for Effective Writing Instruction

    What is the single most effective instructional strategy you have used to teach writing? Teaching and learning good writing can be a challenge to educators and students alike. The topic is...

  2. How to Help Students With Their Writing. 4 Educators Share Their

    So, here are my best instructional practices that lead to confidence and growth in writers. 1. Writing Notebooks and Daily Revision. ... Teaching writing is my favorite part of being a teacher. It ...

  3. PDF Teaching Secondary Students to Write Effectively

    The goal of this practice guide is to offer educators specific, evidence-based recommendations that address the challenges of teaching students in grades 6-12 to write effectively. This guide synthesizes the best publicly available research and shares practices that are supported by evi-dence.

  4. Guides to Teaching Writing

    Guides to Teaching Writing The Harvard Writing Project publishes resource guides for faculty and teaching fellows that help them integrate writing into their courses more effectively—for example, by providing ideas about effective assignment design and strategies for responding to student writing.

  5. PDF Teaching Elementary School Students to Be Effective Writers

    Teach students to use the writing process for a variety of purposes. Recommendation 2a. Teach students the writing process. 1. Teach students strategies for the various components of the writing process. 2. Gradually release writing responsibility from the teacher to the student. 3. Guide students to select and use appropriate writing ...

  6. Teaching Elementary School Students to Be Effective Writers

    How to carry out the recommendation The panel recommends a minimum of one hour a day devoted to writing for students, beginning in 1st grade (For students in kindergarten, at least 30 minutes each day should be devoted to writing and developing writing skills.).

  7. Our Approach to Evidence-Based Writing Instruction

    The teaching of writing requires a careful balancing of freedom and discipline, so that students become equally willing to take creative risks and attend to the nuances of writerly craft. ... Best Practices in Writing Instruction, 3rd ed., edited by Steve Graham, Charles A. MacArthur, and Michael Hebert, 287-308. New York: Guilford, 2019.

  8. WWC

    Details Panel Related Resources This practice guide presents three evidence-based recommendations for helping students in grades 6-12 develop effective writing skills. Each recommendation includes specific, actionable guidance for educators on implementing practices in their classrooms.

  9. PDF Best Practices in Teaching Writing

    Best Practices in Teaching Writing Charles Whitaker, Ph.D. Following is a list of selected teaching practices that are well recognized in the profession as being effective in helping students develop as writers.

  10. Writing Better: Effective Strategies for Teaching Students with

    Best Practices in Writing Instruction (Third Edition) Book Info. Effective guidelines for teaching writing in grades K-12. Using classroom examples, the book identifies the components of a complete, high-quality writing program. Leading experts provide strategies for teaching narrative and argumentative writing; using digital tools; helping ...

  11. Teaching Writing Specialization [5 courses] (Johns Hopkins)

    Learners will examine and adapt best practices in the teaching of writing to meet their own students' needs and situations, regardless of grade level, discipline or skill level. They will create activities and lesson plans designed to help their students improve their writing skills, and will reflect on the theories and values that guide ...

  12. How to Help Students With Their Writing. 4 Educators Share Their

    We have misunderstood the power of writing to create thinking. Likewise, we have misunderstood the limitations of narrow tasks. So, here are my best instructional practices that lead to confidence and growth in writers. 1. Writing Notebooks and Daily Revision. Writers need time to write.

  13. PDF Presenting Best Practices in Writing Instruction

    1. Present writing as a process 2. Make transparent reading and writing connections 3. Promote writing to learn 4. Assign writing in multiple genres and across the content areas 5. Teach grammar in context 6. Provide authentic writing assessment 7. Value extracurricular writing practices 8. Invest in new media writing instruction 9.

  14. Teaching Writing in Elementary School

    Know their writing behaviors and ability level. There are three ways to accomplish this. First, you'll want to administer and analyze an "on demand" writing piece, a piece of writing that's written independently in one period of time. As the students are writing, take note of their behaviors and record what you notice—are they engaged ...

  15. PDF Best Practices in Teaching Writing: An Outline

    Charles Whitaker, Ph.D. Establish a positive atmosphere for writing, reading, and learning by: ÿ Creating an inviting classroom with flexible seating, accessible resources, and attractive surroundings ÿ Modeling respect ÿ Sharing your own writing with students ÿ Establishing routines and expectations Organize for writing by:

  16. Best Practices in Writing Instruction: Third Edition

    More than 40,000 in print. Best Practices in Writing Instruction. Third Edition. Edited by Steve Graham, Charles A. MacArthur, and Michael A. Hebert. Well established as a definitive text—and now revised and updated with eight new chapters—this book translates cutting-edge research into effective guidelines for teaching writing in grades K ...

  17. Teaching Elementary School Students to Be Effective Writers

    1 Provide daily time for students to write. Show More 2 Teach students to use the writing process for a variety of purposes. Show More 3 Teach students to become fluent with handwriting, spelling, sentence construction, typing, and word processing. Show More 4 Create an engaged community of writers. Show More

  18. 15 Practices Proven Effective for Teaching Writing

    1. All students can and should write: Just like with reading, the more students write the better they get…oh, and the more they write, the better they read. 2. Help students find real purposes to...

  19. Best Practices for Teaching Writing Online and Remotely

    Asking students to submit writing assignments online allows instructors to provide more effective feedback to their writing. Consider asking students to upload drafts to Canvas. Then, write a letter to the writer in the "Assignment Comments" box, under "SpeedGrader" in which you provide formative comments for revision.

  20. 4 Best Practices for Teaching Writing (K-2)

    2. Teach the writing process Now, this tip had part A and part B. The first part of teaching the writing process is to teach students to different parts of creating a writing piece. We brainstorm ideas, draft and write our work, revise, edit, and publish!

  21. Today's Best Practices in Teaching Writing

    What are today's best practices in teaching writing? Decades of research have shown that isolated skill drills do little to improve student writing. All of the research indicates that students must spend more time writing in order to become effective writers. Students should be spending at least 45-90 minutes writing every single day.

  22. Best Practices for Teaching Writing

    Features Preview Add these innovative and proven strategies to your instructional toolbox! Join Randi Stone as she visits the classrooms of award-winning teachers to observe their tried-and-tested best practices for teaching writing to diverse elementary, middle, and high school learners.

  23. Best Practices in Teaching Writing.

    Citation Bromley, K. (2007). Best Practices in Teaching Writing. In L. B. Gambrell, L. M. Morrow, & M. Pressley (Eds.), Best practices in literacy instruction (3rd ed., pp. 243-263). The Guilford Press. Abstract The aim of this chapter is to present best practices in literacy and writing education.

  24. Best Practices for Teaching Writing

    Preview. Join Randi Stone as she visits the classrooms of award-winning teachers to observe their tried-and-tested best practices for teaching writing to elementary, middle school, and high school learners in inclusive classrooms. Explore strategies for building student confidence and achievement in writing and language arts as Stone's teachers ...

  25. Best Practices in Writing Instruction (Third Edition)

    Effective guidelines for teaching writing in grades K-12. Using classroom examples, the book identifies the components of a complete, high-quality writing program. Leading experts provide strategies for teaching narrative and argumentative writing; using digital tools; helping students improve specific skills, from handwriting and spelling to sentence construction; teaching evaluation and ...

  26. Professors proceed with caution using AI-detection tools

    The tools, typically integrated into other grammar and writing software, scan text like a spell-checker or antiplagiarism program. ... Report: Best Practices for Using, Teaching Generative AI in Research. Guidance from Cornell University identifies how artificial intelligence tools should be applied to research, with gui.